The main event of the year is getting closer! Finnish Game Jam 2020 (#FGJ20) is arranged from January 31st to February 2nd, 2020 as a part of Global Game Jam.
It is again time to get jamming with the rest of the planet. Global Game Jam 2020 will be held throughout the entire world at the same time. Naturally, Finland will participate, now for the 11th time!
Hurry up and register in chosen location in Finland at FGJ20 eventbrite.
If your area is missing a site here is your chance to organize one yourself! Site applications can be made through Global Game Jam’s website. Site application is open until January 12th, but we recommend you act fast to be able to prepare for the jam.If you have questions about organizing a site or need help feel free to contact us.
IMPORTANT! Registration is open until January 23rd 11:59 PM.
On Friday December 13th we gathered together at Finnish Game Jam Awards to celebrate not only jam games but also all the great people in the community!
All of the awarded games have been made in different game jams organized by Finnish Game Jam during the 2019 season.
Home is a place that keeps us warm and safe. But what happens when you end up without a proper home and even your temporary dumpster gets taken away? Life Of John provides a unique and emotional experience while reminding us that helping others when they are at their lowest point might save humanity. Life Of John is a beautiful narrative experience with simple yet interesting gameplay. This immersive game essay created in a one-man team clearly stands out from the Finnish jam games of 2019.
What do you get when you combine hamsters, pears and awesome game technology from the ’80s? A game about pooping hamster with sweet Game Boy tunes. The Poopster is a very wholesome retro package of graphics, gameplay, and music. It was made during Assembly Game Jam 2019, at the best Finnish jamming place to explore commercially obsolete old hardware and to show to the world how the jammers don’t let the platforms of the past to be forgotten in silence.
Human Rescue Reversed Roles Award FGJ19 Next Games Helsinki
Pekka Kujansuu
Petri Räsänen
Who is the dog’s best friend? Human! Rescuing humans from the streets is the job of a truly virtuous dog! Human Rescue a simple jam game with great gameplay and polished cartoony visuals. The attraction of the game lies in its role-reversing core: In Human Rescue you are tasked to adopt humans and use them to adopt even more humans. Who would let humans roam around the streets aimlessly and without guardians anyway?
We know very well that winter in Finland can be tough – especially for the small birds! For our pleasure, the birds that do not migrate stay behind and delight our forests with their tweets, from their homes. Where The Birds Are is a very Finnish, minimalistic and calming piece of game art. In this game, you are tasked to set up birdhouses to trees and solve the puzzle while music grows as you advance and see where the birds are. Calming games are still a rarity and such pieces definitely stand out from the jam crowds!
Finnish appreciate games, coffee, technology, and sustainability – so why not games about barista robots with organic beans! In Mochabot Organic players receive the orders and brew the coffee with the help of a cute, relentless barista bot. This jam game is served with a minimalistic color palette and a great art style in a package of multiple minigames that soothe your caffeine-induced brains.
Sleeping Bunny Midwinter Dream Award FGJ19 Games Factory Helsinki
Arhi Makkonen
Henri Viitanen
Winter is here… and we all need to keep warm, bunnies too. Furthermore, what would be a better winter hobby than sleeping by the warmth of a fireplace? Sleeping Bunny takes the player on a wintery journey to save a bunny from cold and sleep deprivation. This jam game offers consistent and stylized art with simple and elegant gameplay – a jam game at its best! Simple yet surprisingly challenging gameplay of Sleeping Bunny lets the player unravel the goal on their own and minimalistic, as well as atmospheric audio space, supports the immersive narrative of the game. Playing a piece like this puts smiles on our faces and goodnight dreams in our heads.
Special Awards
Julius Jämsen Jamtivist Award
What would game jams be without music? And even more importantly, what would music be without jamming together? Julius Jämsen brought the jam-lovers together with a power of musical jamming at Jam Jam 2019. If there has ever been a sleazy song about game jamming, we are confident that it cannot beat the ooze of love that this international and multilingual eight-minute song has to offer. A true jamactivist act of bringing people together deserves an acknowledgment of the Jamtivist Award 2019!
IBM Future Award
Game jams use technologies from present and past, but how about the future? We have been told that the future is quantum and quantum is playable! Goes without saying that anything that we can use for play, we jammers, love! In February 2019, IBM provided the first-ever live access to and developer support for the quantum computers at the Quantum Wheel game jam. We were humbled by such privilege and now very eager to see what the quantum future will bring for us jammers. We believe that combining the power of future technologies and bravery of the jammers can take us far and let us have fun while doing it!
Outstanding Support Awards
Futureplay
Veikkaus Game Studio
Neogames
Finnish Game Jam organization would be nothing without the community. Every year and every jam is a joint effort of organizers, participants, jamtivists, jamthusiasts, jam friends and lovers – supporters of all sorts. This year our biggest supporters were Supercell, Veikkaus Game Studio, and Neogames.
Another FGJ great event is over. We want to thank all the winners and all the event participants. It would not happen without you! Thank you!
Dear jammers and all jam-minded people! We are glad to invite you all to the Finnish Game Jam Awards 2019!
A good amount of jams have happened this season, and we’re happy that all of you jammers and volunteers, both old and new, made these events possible. Together we want to celebrate the spirit of jamming community and creativity that has no limits!
When: 13th of December, 18:00-23:00. Where: Arcade5, Lapinlahdenkatu 16, Helsinki Why: Because we can!
Some programme highlights include red carpet, good music, official award ceremony, fancy photoshoots and fantastic people.
Join the event by purchasing the ticket through Eventbrite link. You can find the Facebook event here.
Quantum Wheel, a game jam about quantum technology, was held in the heart of frozen Helsinki in February 15-17. The event was first of its kind, bringing independent game developers and physicists under one roof to innovate a union of games and quantum computing.
Finnish Game Jam is no stranger to quantum theory, having organized already four Quantum Game Jams in the past. Physicists have been invited to jam since the very first event, and for a couple of years jammers have had access to Quantum Black Box, atool developed at the University of Turku. Quantum Wheel was the first event organized in collaboration with IBM as well as the first event to provide jammers with the IBM quantum computer Q Experience.
During the weekend Allas Sea Pool was inhabited by over 50 participants who made 10 games, all utilising quantum technologies in one way or another. The theme for the jam was “noise in the wheel”. The theme was inspired by the eponymous SkyWheel, where teams spent some time jamming above the city.
One team took a step further, bringing quantum computing into physical world. They designed a card game that teaches players how to program on a quantum computer, and an actual quantum computer will also decide who wins the game.
We are proud to have a new exciting jam in February 2019!
Quantum Wheel is a three day game jam at the heart of Helsinki aimed at creating games based on Quantum Physics, both for education and research.
The event continues the Quantum Game Jam series, and it is a collaboration with quantum physicists from the University of Turku, Aalto University and from IBM Zurich, who will participate in the jam. The list of participants includes also many experienced game developers and jammers from Finland and around the globe.
In this jam, the participants create games that utilize Quantum Black Box (tool developed at the University of Turku) and/or IBM quantum computer Q Experience. Otherwise the teams are free to choose their games’ directions and technologies used.
The jam will have around 50 participants and will be located at the cozy Sea Allas Pool in the center of Helsinki. Additional inspiration for the jam will be extracted from riding the SkyWheel Helsinki!
Quantum Wheel 15-17 February 2019 Allas Sea Pool / SkyWheel Helsinki Katajanokanlaituri 2
00160 Helsinki
Finland
Allas Sea Pool is a gardenlike oasis in the heart of Helsinki with a large pool area and magnificent saunas. In addition to swimming, bathing in the saunas and good food, Allas Sea Pool offers many options for wellness. Spending a perfect day at Allas means relaxing, lingering, enjoying with all senses, both the body and the mind – in the middle of Helsinki, next to the Market square, every day of the year. Website:https://www.allasseapool.fi/en/
SkyWheel Helsinki is an Observation Wheel is situated in Katajanokka, one of the most beautiful locations in Helsinki, right next to the market square. From 40 meters high you may see over the city, sea and surrounding islands. Website:http://www.skywheel.fi/en/
Global Game Jam weekend has come and gone and we are one jam experience richer. 48 hours is a short time to develop a game from scratch, and every year we are amazed at what the jammers are able to do within such a limited timeframe!
On a global scale there were in total 47 000 jammers who made 9000 games at 860 sites in 113 countries, which makes this Global Game Jam the biggest game jam ever held! 10 new countries joined the fun, as sites were set up in Azerbaijan, Iraq, Sri Lanka, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Kenya, Ivory Coast, Myanmar, Namibia, and Rwanda.
The global theme for GGJ19 was “what home means to you”, and jammers incorporated it in their games in countless different ways: there was homesickness, homelessness and house parties, to name a few.
We were lucky to have amazing national and local sponsors this year as well. We want to extend a big thank you to all sponsors one more time, we couldn’t have made #FGJ19 this awesome without them
The national gold sponsor was Supercell.
The national silver sponsor was Veikkaus Game Studio.
Thank you again everyone who attended or followed the action through our streams and social media, it was a blast of a weekend!
